How will we break it to the students of D.C.; Superman is not coming.  Or, at least, not anytime soon.  

The resignation of Michelle Rhee, the Chancellor of Public Schools in Washington D.C., yesterday, was a chilling reminder of the hold that politics has on our U.S. education crisis.  It never occurred to me that the number one reformer for education could be out of a job in the blink of an election. 

Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is out.  Vincent Gray is incoming.  Chancellor Michelle Rhee is out and Kaya Henderson is in as interim chancellor.

During her tenure, Rhee faced the insurmountable might of the teachers union in her efforts to close dozens of failed schools and fire more than 1,000 educators, including the principal of her own daughter’s school.  She faced civil law suits in the process of all this and was heard on the September 20^th airing of the Oprah show during her guest spot with Davis Guggenheim, the film-maker who featured Rhee in the documentary “Waiting for Superman”- to say that you have to meet a criminal standard to fire teachers. 

It is the political machine she had to fight to make sweeping and unpopular reforms in the D.C schools, and it’s the political machine that is taking her out. The irony here is overwhelming to comprehend and might keep us from making sense of all this.   

Where does that leave the state of U.S. public school reform and what’s a driven reformer like Michelle Rhee to do?  If she is taking calls, I say ‘Put yourself in the place of most potential’.  If this is the way the game has to be played, connect with other powerful reformers that have your same level of tenacity, commitment and proven success of fighting the political machine in the name of doing what’s right, not what’s popular.  

N.J. Governor Chris Christy, do you have Michelle Rhee’s phone number?

Image via Wikipedia

Kevin Bacon, Independent Entertainment Professional:   

This is Kevin Bacon’s title on his LinkedIn page.  

He doesn’t make mention of his iconic barometer status in Hollywood as THE CONNECTOR.  But he does list every acting and producing credit, project and film in his work history which is what makes his small world phenomenon so believable even if you haven’t read the book –  Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon  or played the game – Endless Games. 

What is most striking about this movie star’s LinkedIn profile (outside of seeing a LinkedIn profile of an A-list movie star to begin with) is this quote:  “I have always been forthcoming about my lack of professional self-confidence, but I have never let it stop me from delivering powerful performances.”

What that tells me is that he has to fight through the fear, a lot, to play a big game, working along side the best of the best talent in his field. 

The take-away from Kevin Bacon’s A-list profile on LinkedIn? 

“Risking the appearance of weakness takes strength.” – Seth Godin, October 4, 2010.

I’ve grabbed a few of the facts that jumped off the page for me.  None of this information or what I am about to comment on is new news.  I guess I’m hoping that facts like these hit harder than suggestions that you’ve heard made time after time.  The good news is that you can start today making one small step towards discovering and landing your purpose fit/perfect fit job. 

 The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 60% of all new jobs in the twenty-first century will require skills that only 20% of current employees possess. You need a sense for what skills are important in your industry, and which ones might be significant in the future. By keeping yourself relevant, you’re keeping yourself employed. For instance, if you’re in the marketing world, you can’t avoid online advertising, and mobile applications.

Being in a confident state of knowing about what you do that uniquely creates value in your work is essential.  If you can’t communicate a Value Mission Statement that is connected to your purpose, you sound like every other qualified candidate for the job you seek and you have stacked the odds against you for getting to the interview.

 As you progress in your career, networking becomes more important because it’s almost 100% a hidden job market when you’re an executive job seeker. Only 22% of positions paying $200,000 or more are being posted on job boards. Your best bet is to focus on building an enormous Rolodex throughout your career, giving value to them, and then asking for help when you need it.

Whoa.  There are a couple of things to be done first before you go walking through your Rolodex.  After you have created a Value Mission Statement (this can be your personal brand, but it needs to communicate how you create value in your work), and can articulate your perfect job, researching 20 to 30 companies of interest that hire for the job you seek will help you engage your network/weak ties to know exactly how to help you.  Asking to be connected with a specific hiring manager at a company for a specific job delivers a capable and confident message that you are the best candidate for the job.   

You need to be known for something and don’t try to be everything to everyone. Being a generalist will help you adapt to new jobs because the market changes all the time, but specializing will make you more desirable to hiring managers. In fact, 71% of hiring managers are looking to fill “specialized positions” while 61% of job seekers considered themselves to have “broad skill sets”. Companies are looking to hire experts in their fields to solve real business problems. Become an expert in an in-demand field and you will have leverage over the recruitment process, make more money, and securing a stable position.

This reflects back to two critical components of your search: A Value Mission Statement that spells out exactly what you do (as an expert) to create real value; Focus on the job, the companies of interest v. blindly sending one of three resumes in to see if something sticks.   

A brand requires a personality if it’s going to be distinctive. Your personal brand needs to be personable and attract positive attention. Organizations are starting to place a higher value on interpersonal skills (communication, teamwork, organization) and cultural fit, instead of technical skills and experience. Technical skills and experience are easily replaceable in most fields, but it’s harder to replace people who fit perfectly in your organization and work well with your current employees. A new survey by Right Management shows that 31% of companies feel that organizational culture and motivation fit is important, while only 12% are for technical skills, and 11% are for relevant experience.

These are the intangibles that heretofore haven’t been named – it’s called Spiritual Capital.  It’s well-being, confident, positivity, collaboration, commitment, engaged, loyalty, etc. 

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/10-reasons-why-you-should-care-about-personal-branding/

especially if you:

• are a displaced/unemployed professional seeking a new job
• are in a job rut and wish to make a change
• desire a promotion and need to expand your network of influence to do so
• wish to be better in your current role
• want to find new, ready customers
• want to connect with potential new business partners
• would like to increase the # of eyeballs for product/service promotions (and not spend a cent to do it)
• are looking for a (best) service provider
• are looking to hire/post a job and find real talent
• want to learn who the experts are on a particular topic or in a specific industry/niche
• want to become known as an expert for what you do
• want to seek advice
• are moving and need new, trusted contacts
• want to conduct a survey
• are in the sales profession and never want to cold-call again
• like to reach large numbers of people through your blog
• you like to make people laugh
• like to inform
• like to teach
• are an enthusiast of a group or topic
• are a Go-Giver!

Dear Significance,

You are strong and mighty but your bad self is like an endless “PLANTERS PEANUT” party gone awry.  You can easily get the whole world eating out of your hand, but then what?   

When it comes to GIVING to feed your insatiable, ‘recognize me’ appetite, let’s try to remember this one distinction:  the spirit of giving is about detachment. 

1). when you give expecting to get – you are usually disappointed.  Quit it.

2). think about the end in mind, first.  What are you hoping will happen and then check this against the spirit of giving – are you detached from the outcome?   

3). create boundaries around giving – this will help with the endless line of takers who show up at your door-step – in “PLANTERS PEANUT STYLE”.  Without boundaries, the outcomes are unpredictable and this is a painful lesson to keep re-living. 

4). create expectations for what the giving means – for you and for them.

If you are going down, you may as well go down with a few laughs!

I’ve been intentional about finding something that could give me one good belly laugh a day.  It is the best eliminator of a bucket full of emotions that are destructive and just plain not good for your mind, body or soul. 

Ellen Degeneres delivered a whole show full of yuks for me five days a week – but is now in re-runs so I’m having to work at my laugh-time.  Things are serious, hard, difficult, frightening, tragic for a lot of people right now, but we can all be intentional about seeking laughter.  It’s nice when laughter is serendipitous, but it’s just as enjoyable when you have to go find it. 

This pretty little thing in her purple number is featured on a greeting card that I’ve kept for ages.  (This is girlfriend humor, for sure.  Sorry, men).  I bought this card long ago with a great girl friend in mind.  I could picture her contortions – snorting and crying as she read the caption.  But I could never part with it because it stoked this fresh, big bellow from me every time I looked at it.

If you have to go to the edgy stationery store and spend an hour with funny greeting cards to get some laughs in, do it.  Create a laugh box or digital laugh folder to keep funny stuff in that comes your way.  Laughter is way too scarce to come by these days, but it’s there for the taking.  Be intentional to find it, make time for it and then watch what happens.

Empathic Civilisation is a Big Idea for what could solve the world’s most pressing issues.  Is it possible to pull out the nuggets and apply these in smaller doses to issues in your world? 

If you are a leader, what does this concept of Mirror Neurons mean for your followers?  Just by walking in the room, you set the stage for the energy and emotions. 

If you are in service to customers, how does this concept play into customer interactions - resolution and outcomes? Does the raging or angry customer set the tone for the interaction?  Or does the service provider interrupt the charged atmosphere and diffuse with empathy? 

Empathy is the Invisible Hand, indeed.  An idea worth pursuing where you are?

Amazon – This review is from:

I found this book to be inordinately helpful in reorganizing my life after a lay-off. It’s easy enough to recommend and harp upon the benefits of a positive attitude but few books actually guide you through the process of transformation to a newer, stronger self. This book does exactly that.

J. Horsley, Charlotte, NC